After receiving a directive from Chancellor Nancy Zimpher on Monday, Upstate's Interim President Gregory Eastwood on Tuesday wrote to MedBest Medical Management calling for a freeze on any payments to past or current SUNY employees.

Zimpher wrote in a letter obtained by the Times Union earlier this month that David R. Smith, the Upstate president, had received $349,295 in payments through MedBest and another entity with tens of millions of dollars in Upstate contracts called Pediatrics Service Group. Smith resigned shortly after the Times Union reported about his outside income earlier this month.

At least two of Smith's top aides reported to a state ethics agency that they also took money from MedBest and several others from his executive team also received payments, according to interviews with public officials.

Eastwood told MedBest to freeze any such payments going forward and to report its business relationships with Upstate officials by Dec. 4.

MedBest's contracts with Upstate are under review by the Office of the State Comptroller and by SUNY. An official with the state Inspector General's Office would not say if its investigators have begun a probe.

Although Smith did not report the outside income from MedBest to the Joint Commission on Public Ethics, two of his officers did. They are former Upstate chief financial officer Steven Brady, who retired shortly after Smith's resignation, and Wanda M. Thompson, senior vice president at SUNY Upstate. MedBest has not returned phone calls. The payments were unapproved by Zimpher, she said in a letter. MedBest had a $22.38 million contract for electronic medical records services from March 2010 to February 2015 and $5.22 million has been paid to the company so far. It also had a $22,035 contract for reimbursement for recruitment from January 2009 to December 2013 of which no money has been paid.